Evidence, illness, and causation: An epidemiological perspective on the Russo–Williamson Thesis (2015)
Fiorentino, Alexander R. (Author)
Dammann, Olaf (Author)
Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C: Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences
Volume: 54
Pages: 1-9
According to the Russo–Williamson Thesis, causal claims in the health sciences need to be supported by both difference-making and mechanistic evidence. In this article, we attempt to determine whether Evidence-based Medicine (EBM) can be improved through the consideration of mechanistic evidence. We discuss the practical composition and function of each RWT evidence type and propose that exposure–outcome evidence (previously known as difference-making evidence) provides associations that can be explained through a hypothesis of causation, while mechanistic evidence provides finer-grained associations and knowledge of entities that ultimately explains a causal hypothesis. We suggest that mechanistic evidence holds untapped potential to add value to the assessment of evidence quality in EBM and propose initial recommendations for the integration of mechanistic and exposure–outcome evidence to improve EBM by robustly leveraging available evidence in support of good medical decisions.
...MoreSimilar Citations
Article
Saana Jukola;
(2017)
On ideals of objectivity, judgments, and bias in medical research – A comment on Stegenga
(/isis/citation/CBB309655322/)
Article
Donald Gillies;
(2017)
Evidence of mechanism in the evaluation of streptomycin and thalidomide
(/isis/citation/CBB434797387/)
Article
Jacob Stegenga;
(2015)
Measuring effectiveness
(/isis/citation/CBB861466560/)
Book
Broadbent, Alex;
(2013)
Philosophy of Epidemiology
(/isis/citation/CBB001420137/)
Book
Edward Shorter;
Max Fink;
(2018)
The Madness of Fear: A History of Catatonia
(/isis/citation/CBB544899834/)
Article
Saana Jukola;
(2019)
On the evidentiary standards for nutrition advice
(/isis/citation/CBB988050961/)
Article
Tudor M. Baetu;
(2020)
Causal inference in biomedical research
(/isis/citation/CBB518937449/)
Article
Anya Plutynski;
(2021)
Is cancer a matter of luck?
(/isis/citation/CBB401173230/)
Article
Kalewold Hailu Kalewold;
(2020)
Race and medicine in light of the new mechanistic philosophy of science
(/isis/citation/CBB563203350/)
Article
Jacob Stegenga;
(2015)
Effectiveness of medical interventions
(/isis/citation/CBB154896165/)
Article
Stefano Canali;
(2019)
Evaluating Evidential Pluralism in Epidemiology: Mechanistic Evidence in Exposome Research
(/isis/citation/CBB460640168/)
Article
Karina Alleva;
José Díez;
Lucia Federico;
(2017)
Models, theory structure and mechanisms in biochemistry: The case of allosterism
(/isis/citation/CBB541545262/)
Article
Lauren N. Ross;
(2021)
Causal Concepts in Biology: How Pathways Differ from Mechanisms and Why It Matters
(/isis/citation/CBB579689608/)
Article
Jason Winning;
(2020)
Mechanistic Causation and Constraints: Perspectival Parts and Powers, Non-perspectival Modal Patterns
(/isis/citation/CBB929989718/)
Book
Collin Rice;
(2021)
Leveraging Distortions: Explanation, Idealization, and Universality in Science
(/isis/citation/CBB912709886/)
Article
Stephen Cooper;
(2017)
The Concepts of Ludwik Fleck and their Application to the Eukaryotic Cell Cycle
(/isis/citation/CBB799911715/)
Book
Pierre-Alain Braillard;
Christophe Malaterre;
(2015)
Explanation in Biology: An Enquiry into the Diversity of Explanatory Patterns in the Life Sciences
(/isis/citation/CBB328513685/)
Article
Jens Harbecke;
(2015)
The regularity theory of mechanistic constitution and a methodology for constitutive inference
(/isis/citation/CBB216734575/)
Article
David Teira;
(2019)
Placebo trials without mechanisms: How far can they go?
(/isis/citation/CBB058338660/)
Book
Colleen Derkatch;
(2016)
Bounding Biomedicine: Evidence and Rhetoric in the New Science of Alternative Medicine
(/isis/citation/CBB739944455/)
Be the first to comment!